AHA names Perlin 2014 chairman-elect

AHA NewsJul 26, 2013

Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D., the Hospital Corporation of America’s (HCA) president of clinical and physician services and chief medical officer in Nashville, TN, will serve as the AHA’s chairman-elect in 2014. He will become AHA chairman in 2015. The AHA Board of Trustees selected Perlin at its July 25 meeting in San Diego.

Perlin will succeed James Hinton, president and CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Albuquerque, NM, who will become AHA chairman on Jan. 1.

“I look forward to working with the AHA, its members and allied hospital associations in support of the AHA mission to improve health and care during this challenging and exciting time,” Perlin said.

An AHA board member since 2011, Perlin served on the board’s executive committee and is its liaison to the AHA Physician Leadership Forum’s committee on clinical research. Among his AHA board responsibilities was serving as the first chairman of the AHA’s Dick Davidson Quality Milestone Award committee. The award, named after AHA President Emeritus Dick Davidson, annually recognizes a state, regional or metropolitan hospital association for leadership in improving health care quality (see story below). Perlin has been HCA’s chief medical officer and head of clinical services since 2006. HCA is the nation’s largest non-governmental health care system.

Before joining HCA, Perlin served as the Department of Veteran Affairs’ undersecretary for health and as CEO of the Veterans Health Administration, where he led the nation’s largest integrated health system. He directed care for 5.4 million patients annually at 1,400 sites across the country and championed the use of electronic health records and quality performance that received recognition throughout the health care sector.

He is the chairman of the department of Health and Human Services’ Health Infor­mation Technology Standards Committee, which is charged with making critical recommendations regarding electronic health records to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Perlin has served on numerous boards and commissions including those of the National Quality Forum, The Joint Commission and Meharry Medical College.

When interviewed in 2011 for an AHA News story on incoming board members, Perlin said that serving as an AHA trustee is an “incredible privilege.”

“It is impossible to serve on this board and not learn ways to improve the quality, safety and operations of hospitals and health care,” he said.